Page 58 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art September 2013

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A buff sandstone relief of Uma Maheshvara
75 Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan, circa 10th century
56 | Bonhams The holy family together with Shiva holding the trident and gazing at
Parvati nestled on his thigh and holding the swirling lotus, both wearing
elaborate headdresses, bedecked in jewelry and festoons, and seated on
their mounts, with diminutive Ganesha and Skanda next to attendants
below and Brahma at upper left.
22 3/8 in. (56.8 cm) high
$5,000 - 8,000

Exhibited:
Birmingham Museum, Alabama, 2010-3 (528.2010A-B).

Provenance:
Collection of Dr. Alston and Eivor Callahan, Alabama, acquired from Spink
& Son, London, 17 January 1986
Collection of Dr. Mike and Mrs. Teresa Callahan, Alabama, acquiredv
by inheritance

75
A sandstone panel with the Saivite family
Central India, circa 10th century
Carved with great detail and divided into four horizontal registers; at the
base, the heads of an ascetic with matted locks and a woman with a tiara,
possibly a nagini, under a hooded canopy; the second register with a yali
raised on hind legs above an elephant and with a devata struck in dynamic
pose nestled in the crook of his back, sided by a column depicting a purna
kalasha below a festooned bell with ribbons draping from a kirtimukha
mask flanked by apsaras, and two capitals, the lower with a purno-asya
kalasha; the third with three-headed Skanda holding a trident and seated
above the remains of his peacock’s tail, the top with Shiva and Parvati as the
adoring couple seated on Nandi and Ganesh by his father’s side.
22 1/4 in. (56.2 cm) high
$10,000 - 12,000

The detail and complexity of this panel compares closely to the niches and
steles produced under and just before the Chandela Dynasty (10th-13th
centuries) around the 10th century. Compare the similar inclusion of the
overflowing purno-asya kalasha and kirtimukha on a panel held in the Norton
Simon Museum (F.1975.11.3.S), as well as the similar segregation of registers
on the edges of a stele of Harihara in the British Museum (1872,0701.75).

Provenance:
Acquired in New York, early 1990s

76
A gray sandstone stele of Uma Maheshvara
Central India, 11/12th century
The adoring couple holding darshan, wearing diaphanous dhotis and
crisply detailed jewelry, Shiva with four hands, placing one on Uma’s waist
and holding a snake, trident, and boon with the others, the pair backed
by lotus halos and seated in rajalilasana atop an adoring Nandi with
Ganesh and an attendant on either side of the lotus plinth supported by
attendants and flanked by Uma’s lion and a fifth attendant, and with the
edges of the stele detailed with elephant, vyala, and makara.
23 1/2 in. (59.7 cm) high
$15,000 - 20,000

Rich with complex detail and iconography, compare the treatment of the
jewelry, especially the necklaces, to related steles in the British Museum
(1957,0216.1), the Norton Simon Museum (F.1978.23.S), and a piece sold
at Sotheby’s, New York, 24 March 2011, lot 13.

Provenance:
Private Pittsburgh Collection
Sotheby’s, New York, 16 September 1999, lot 116
Sotheby’s, New York, 16 & 17 March 1988, lot 47